


Crossed Wires

by tookumade



Series: Haikyuu!! Rarepair Week - 2015 [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Spring High spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-20 13:22:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3651897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tookumade/pseuds/tookumade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern technology doesn't <i>always</i> make communication easier.</p><p>(written for Haikyuu!! Rarepair Week - Day 5 - mistakes, texting)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crossed Wires

**Author's Note:**

> EnnoFuta is all [memorde's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/memorde) fault; Memorde and Ann and their growing EnnoFuta Empire.

It wasn’t like Ennoshita was pining or anything. Nope, not at all. He didn’t do pining.  
  
Wishing he had gotten Datekou’s new captain’s phone number wasn’t pining. Wondering how he’d go about getting his number wasn’t pining. Wishing their brief conversation at the Spring High had gone on for longer wasn’t pining. Hoping for some miracle to happen and said new captain appearing like one half of couples showing up at the last minute at airports right before the other is about to go through airport security and board… _wasn’t_ pining. Also, note to self: never, ever let cousin-who-just-went-through-break-up choose Sunday Family Fun movies.  
  
Okay, _maybe_ he was pining. Just a _little_ bit. But if anyone were to ask, he’d deny it.  
  
Ennoshita sighed.  
  
And he didn’t realise he had sighed so loudly until he looked up to find Narita and Kinoshita staring at him in bewilderment over their burgers.  
  
“Wow. That was a _pining_ sigh,” said Kinoshita with wide eyes and a sly grin growing across his face. “Who are you crushing on?”  
  
“What are you talking about?”  
  
“My sister’s got her first junior high crush and she’s all mushy over some second-year guy, and she’s been sighing like that _every single hour._ ”  
  
“I’m not mushy over anyone,” said Ennoshita, which was a complete lie, and _oh no, Datekou’s captain is a second year too, isn’t he?_  
  
“I don’t believe you,” said Kinoshita as he and Narita dropped their burgers on their trays and stared at him eagerly. “Is she someone from Karasuno?” He paused when Ennoshita frowned at him, then continued, with wide eyes, “ _Not_ someone from Karasuno? But… do you really talk to people who aren’t from school?”  
  
Narita elbowed him. “ _Other volleyball teams!”_ he hissed.  
  
“ _Oh!”_  
  
“If your eyes widen even more, they’re going to fall out of your head,” said Ennoshita mildly. “You look like a bug, Kinoshita.”  
  
“He didn’t deny it,” Narita breathed.  
  
“Guys, I don’t have a crush on anyone.”  
  
“If it’s other volleyball teams, then… a guy?” said Kinoshita in a hushed voice, completely ignoring Ennoshita’s denial. “You didn’t pay much attention to the Queens or the other girls’ volleyball teams, now that I think about it.”  
  
“Is he from Seijou?” asked Narita. “Is it Seijou’s ace?”  
  
They stared at him. He threw his hands up in front of himself and said, part defensively and part matter-of-factly, “ _Everyone_ has a crush on Seijou’s ace.”  
  
“Judging by his expression, it’s not him,” said Kinoshita slowly. “Is it Oikawa?”  
  
“Stop staring.” Ennoshita picked at his fries with a defeated sigh. No matter what he said now, it wasn’t going to be enough to deter either of them. “And no, it’s not Oikawa.”  
  
“Is he… what other teams were there… is he from Datekou?” said Narita.  
  
“I’m not saying.”  
  
“He’s from Datekou!” said Kinoshita excitedly. “Does he have eyebrows?”  
  
“ _Guys_.”  
  
“It’s not No-Eyebrows!” said Narita. “It’s… oh! That new captain! The one who doesn’t know how to shut up!”  
  
Ennoshita stared at them in defeat. “How the hell?” he said  
  
“Your eyes do this twitching thing whenever we’re right about something,” said Kinoshita.  
  
“ _What?"_  
  
“So, Captain Sass, huh?” said Narita, leaning over to pinch his fries before returning to his forgotten burger.  
  
“His name is–” said Ennoshita automatically before catching himself, but too late as his friends stared back at him, grinning widely and expectantly. He sighed again, and muttered, “Futakuchi Kenji.”  
  
“He was the one the third years kept yelling at during the Inter High,” said Kinoshita with a thoughtful nod. “Well, he’s reasonably good-looking, I guess. And he’s… tall and… is good at volleyb– _what_ exactly do you like about him?”  
  
Ennoshita shrugged and stirred his drink a little absently. “I can’t explain,” he said. “I just _do_. We spoke a little during the Spring High and… kind of hit it off. That’s it, though.”  
  
“Ennoshita,” said Narita gravely, “you know those kinds of movie plot-lines work out _very_ badly in real-life situations.” Ennoshita flicked a small burnt piece of fry at him.  
  
“I don’t need you two worrying about me,” he said calmly. “We just spoke briefly, that’s all.”  
  
“You didn’t get his number?” said Kinoshita through a mouthful of food.  
  
“No, and it’s no big deal.”  
  
Narita snorted. “You _sighed_ like people do in those romantic comedies you pretend to dislike–”  
  
“Now _hold on_ one second–”  
  
“–so it sounds like a fairly big deal, don’t you think?”  
  
“I give up.” Ennoshita returned his attention to the rest of his food. “Finish your burgers before I finish them for you. We still need to go study at the library.”  
  
“Suuure,” his friends chorused.  
  
Judging by the smirks on their faces, Ennoshita knew this wasn’t going to be the end of it.  
  
(“Hinata,” said Kinoshita slowly to Narita a few hours later, “keeps in contact with that No-Eyebrows middle blocker, doesn’t he? And No-Eyebrows is good friends with Captain Sass.”  
  
“I think so,” said Narita. “Hinata has everyone’s numbers.”  
  
They stared at each other, then grinned slyly.  
  
“Too easy,” they said in unison.)  
  
—  
  
At Datekougyou High, Futakuchi and Aone were studying together in the school library. Or, rather, Aone was studying, and Futakuchi was… not.  
  
“I should’ve gotten his number,” he moaned into his English textbook.  
  
“You can still get it,” said Aone a little distractedly, scribbling down notes.  
  
“I’ll look _so uncool_ if I ask first!”  
  
_You look completely uncool moping around like this,_ thought Aone, too wise to say it out loud, and instead asked him, “Does that make him ‘uncool’ if he asked for your number first?”  
  
Futakuchi frowned. “Well, when you put it that way…”  
  
Aone tried a different tack. “You could be pretty cool if you took the initiative, too.”  
  
Futakuchi’s frown turned thoughtful. “Show him I’m not afraid,” he said slowly.  
  
“Mm.”  
  
“Show him I’m a man of action.”  
  
“Mm-hm.”  
  
Futakuchi face-planted into his textbook. “ _But hooow?”_  
  
Aone held back a sigh and said patiently, “I’m friends with Hinata Shouyou—Karasuno’s number ten. I can ask him for Ennoshita-san’s number.”  
  
Futakuchi looked alarmed. “Hell no! I’ve got to keep up a reputation in front of the first years,” he said. “Don’t tell the chibi number ten!”  
  
“Do your homework,” said Aone, returning to his textbook and giving up on his friend for the moment.  
  
—  
  
‘Kind of hit it off’ was true but it also wasn’t the full story, thought Ennoshita as he leaned back in his chair and stared up at his bedroom ceiling, remembering his talk with Kinoshita and Narita.  
  
He had enjoyed his conversation with Futakuchi, brief as it was. It was a conversation that went all over the place.  
  
Futakuchi’s smirk (he looked so attractive when he smirked, Ennoshita tried not to think) and his partially-curious, mostly-provocative opening statement of ‘Hey, you’re a second-year, aren’t you? Half your starting line-up are first-years, what’s with that? You just gonna let them show you up?’ was probably not meant to be met with Ennoshita’s faint smile and earnest ‘You’ve seen them play before. They contribute more to the game than I do’, but what else was he meant to say? It was true, after all, and Futakuchi knew this.  
  
And when his smirk widened, and Ennoshita realised then that by saying ‘You’ve seen them play before’ he might as well have tacked on ‘and they beat your team or did you forget?’ but rather than see this as a sign to keep picking a fight and get all offended, Futakuchi just nodded appreciatively, and that was how the rest of their conversation followed.  
  
“Looking at you, I bet you’re a real nerd at school, Ennoshita?”  
  
“Well, my grades are all right.”  
  
“Books over sports, huh? Thought so! We’re, like, ten whole centimetres difference in height, did you not drink enough milk as a kid?”  
  
“I’m lactose intolerant.”  
  
“ _Oh.”_  
  
That Futakuchi didn’t seem at all unsettled or put off by Ennoshita’s lack of reaction was… encouraging. In fact, it seemed to encourage _him_ , and Ennoshita couldn’t help but appreciate that the conversation kept going. They talked about their teammates, mostly, and just touched upon school-related topics. And as much as Ennoshita was used to smirks and light trash-talking (it’s what he gets for hanging out with volleyball-obsessed teammates, after all), he soon found that Futakuchi Kenji was so much more than his smirk.  
  
He was interesting, no matter what façade he tried to put on. The way he went from exasperation over his kouhai’s near-uncontrollable overabundance of energy, to the way his eyes lit up with pride when he talked about Datekou’s Iron Wall, to determination when he mentioned Datekou’s retired third-years, back to his (attractive) smirk… it kept Ennoshita on his toes in a different way that bantering with his friends did. Every time he said something, he looked forward to Futakuchi’s reaction afterwards.  
  
Which was why he was annoyed at himself for not thinking of getting his contact details.  
  
It was unlikely that Hinata had his phone number or email or whatever, but he probably had Aone-san’s, and Aone-san definitely would have Futakuchi’s, so that was something to keep in mind. But would Futakuchi be bothered by Ennoshita getting his number? Well… probably not, honestly. But Ennoshita did worry about overstepping boundaries.  
  
Well, they would probably meet again, whether on the court, or outside of school or whatever. He could settle for that, he supposed.  
  
Ennoshita sighed ( _pining sigh_ ). Talk about missed opportunities.  
  
—  
  
On their way to volleyball practice one afternoon, Kinoshita and Narita spotted Hinata jogging towards the gymnasium and called out to him. He turned at the sound of his name and quickly straightened up.  
  
“Oh, senpai! Good afternoon!”  
  
Kinoshita and Narita smiled at him.  
  
“Hi,” said Narita. “We were hoping you could help us with something—we have a favour.”  
  
“Uh, yes! Anything I can do to help!”  
  
“Well, you keep in contact with that No-Eyebrows middle blocker from Datekou, right?” asked Kinoshita.  
  
Hinata nodded. “Yeah, Aone seems scary, but he’s actually really nice.”  
  
“How about Captain Sass?” asked Narita.  
  
“Captain… Sass?”  
  
“Futakuchi.”  
  
“Oh, _Futakuchi-san._ No, I don’t keep in contact with him, but if you want to talk to him, I can ask Aone?”  
  
“Yes, please,” said Kinoshita. “You see, he and Ennoshita became good, ah, _friends_ , and, you know… good friends keep in contact, so…”  
  
“Sure!” said Hinata, nodding in understanding. “Hold on, I’ll ask Aone right now and let you know what he says.”  
  
“Thanks, Hinata,” said Narita cheerfully. “Ah, the power of friendship.”  
  
“Yeah,” said Kinoshita, grinning as they watched Hinata type on his phone. “ _Friendship_.”  
  
—  
   
In the cornerstore near Datekou, Aone and Futakuchi were shopping for snacks. Futakuchi was crouched at the bottom shelf in one aisle, trying to decide between peach sour gummies or grape sour gummies. Aone’s phone chimed up to indicate he had received a message. He checked it and stared at it for a while.  
  
“Hinata Shouyou,” he said slowly, “says that his teammates want to give your number to one of their friends.”  
  
Futakuchi sprang upright from his crouch so quickly that Aone was pretty sure he heard at least three cricks in his joints somewhere.  
  
“Who?” Futakuchi demanded, a bag of sour gummies in each hand. “ _Who?”_  
  
Even Aone couldn’t fight back a small smile.  
  
“They want to give it to… Ennoshita–”  
  
“ _Holy sh–_ ”  
  
“–Chikara.”  
  
Everyone in the cornerstore stared at them, and the owner—a tiny but fearsome old lady who was almost half Futakuchi’s height—charged out of nowhere with a broom and swung it at Futakuchi’s legs and snapped at him to pick up the bags of sour gummies he had tossed up in celebration, and to stop pumping his fists in the air and making so much noise.  
  
—  
  
When Kinoshita and Narita presented Ennoshita with Futakuchi Kenji’s number the next day—in the same manner that pet cats dropped murder-presents at one’s feet and expected high praise—Ennoshita stared at them, dumbfounded.  
  
“I can’t believe you two–”  
  
“You’re welcome,” they chimed.  
  
“You asked Hinata–”  
  
“The power of friendship,” said Kinoshita.  
  
“–and Aone-san–”  
  
“He’s very nice, actually,” said Narita.  
  
“–and you both–”  
  
“Stop dawdling and text him already, god!” said Kinoshita.  
  
What else could he do?  
  
Later that afternoon, once Ennoshita was back home and in his bedroom, he took the first step. It had taken him nearly ten minutes to compose his first text to Futakuchi, and he wasn’t sure why it made him so anxious. He didn’t usually get anxious over something like this, but here he was.  
  
  
**4:06PM: From:** Ennoshita Chikara — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _Hi, this is Ennoshita from Karasuno. I hope you didn’t mind me getting your number from your friend?_ ]  
  
  
That was what he had sent him. Short, polite, and with some space for push-back if Futakuchi did mind. Surely that was a good enough start?  
  
But it had been nearly half an hour since he had sent it, and there hadn’t been a reply yet. It wasn’t as though he was impatient by nature, but as the minutes passed (the seconds too, if he was being honest), he began to worry and overthink it. Had he sounded too uptight? Should he have said more? Before things could get out of hand, he reminded himself that maybe Futakuchi was just busy with something else and couldn’t respond right away. Maybe Datekou just had a volleyball practice session right now. Just because he didn’t reply right away, didn’t mean anyth–  
  
His phone chimed to indicate an unread message, and Ennoshita jolted in surprise. His heart leapt ( _whoa, slow down,_ he told himself) when he saw who it was from, and he jabbed at his phone quickly.  
  
  
**4:32PM: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Ennoshita Chikara  
[ _Hey it’s cool it’s good to hear from you hope you’re well_ ]  
  
  
… And that was it.  
  
Ennoshita stared uncertainly at the message. Should he reply? It didn’t seem to leave a lot of room for conversation…  
  
Still. ‘ _hey it’s cool_ ’—he didn’t mind giving out his number. ‘ _it’s good to hear from you_ ’—he liked that Ennoshita contacted him? ‘ _hope you’re well_ ’—he… cared about his well-being?  
  
Ennoshita threw his phone down and buried his face in his hands. No, he would _not_ start over-analysing a text.  
  
  
**4:37PM: From:** Ennoshita Chikara — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _Thanks, it’s good to hear from you too. How have you been?_ ]  
  
  
Not exactly exciting, but he had to do _something_. As he waited, he dragged out his homework and made a start. But parabolic equations be damned, he was so distracted that he could barely remember something as simple as _which is the x-axis and which is the y-axis_ , and that was a pretty clear indication of what his homework progress looked like for the evening.  
  
His phone chimed again, and he dropped his pen immediately.  
  
  
**4:42PM: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Ennoshita Chikara  
[ _I’m good thanks school’s great haha how about you_ ]  
  
  
Well, he could work with that.  
  
  
**4:43PM: From:** Ennoshita Chikara — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _I’m good. Are you still playing volleyball?_ ]  
  
  
**4:45PM: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Ennoshita Chikara  
[ _yeah gotta train the first years_ ]  
  
  
**4:47PM: From:** Ennoshita Chikara — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _Must be tough._ ]  
  
  
**4:48PM: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Ennoshita Chikara  
[ _nah it’s no big deal haha_ ]  
  
  
Ennoshita remembered the amount of exasperation on Futakuchi’s face when he had told him about his overly-excitable kouhai, and frowned slightly.  
  
It went on and on over the course of the evening, just them texting back and forth and making small talk. Ennoshita would ask questions mostly, or say things he knew Futakuchi could easily reply to, but it wasn’t until Futakuchi sent a ‘ _yeah gotta start on my English essay soon_ ’, that Ennoshita realised what was wrong: this conversation was _boring_.  
  
He supposed it was true that sometimes people sounded very different when they spoke face-to-face with people, and when they wrote or typed things, but he honestly hadn’t really expected that of Futakuchi. He didn’t expect him to be a 24/7 sass machine, but he also didn’t seem the type to send such mundane messages. He wondered what this was about, and hoped he wasn’t overthinking things again.  
  
Their texting continued on like that for several more days. But no matter how boring the conversations were, they always replied to each other. Ennoshita also hoped that this meant positive things.  
  
—  
  
“When you text to other people, your messages usually aren’t so… boring,” Aone was saying during lunch, a week into the texting adventures.  
  
“No, I _have_ to stay totally calm about all this,” said Futakuchi. Aone gave him an almost pitying look as he chewed his rice. “I can’t start sending him kaomojis and paragraphs of text about how much I want to hang out. I have to be totally chill.”  
  
“But,” said Aone, voice heavy with logic, confusion, and exasperation, “if you don’t tell him you want to hang out, how will he know?”  
  
“I’ll hint at it,” said Futakuchi. “I’ll be subtle.”  
  
“You don’t do subtle.”  
  
“Yes I do!”  
  
“What if you’re too subtle, and he thinks you aren’t interested?”  
  
Futakuchi looked horrified.  
  
“That… really didn’t occur to you?” said Aone in disbelief.  
  
“ _No_ ,” said Futakuchi. “I was so worried about looking cool and calm and– oh, _man_ , I screwed up!”  
  
“Not yet,” said Aone. “Send him something less-subtle now.”  
  
“What should I– okay, okay, give me a moment.” Futakuchi pulled out his phone. “‘ _Hey what sort of–’_ ”  
  
“You don’t have to dictate–”  
  
“‘ _–coffee do you like, mine’s a mocha haha_ ’. And… sent.”  
  
Aone stared at him.  
  
“W-Was that no good?” asked Futakuchi, now frowning anxiously.  
  
“Um,” said Aone, trying not to look like he was about to give up, “it was… fine.”  
  
Lunch period ended soon after, and they headed to their separate classes. Futakuchi had Japanese; Aone had metalworks, which was a terrible idea, given that he spent most of the class distracted and worried about his friend, and ended up accidentally welding the wrong metal pieces together, twice.  
  
He didn’t see Futakuchi until later that day for volleyball practice, and for the first time in a long while, Aone contemplated purposely showing up late. It didn’t happen though, and when he arrived at the locker room, punctual as ever, he saw Futakuchi already there, and had to tell himself not to run away when his friend looked up at him with a look of despair on his face.  
  
“He hasn’t replied for _two hours_ ,” Futakuchi groaned.  
  
“We all have school today,” Aone reminded him patiently.  
  
“ _Two hours, Aone!”_  
  
“If you’re too clingy, you might scare him off.”  
  
“Wh– I can’t be too subtle, but I can’t be too clingy, either? How do people maintain a balance? This stuff is _hard_.”  
  
“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” said Aone bracingly. Then again, this was Futakuchi he was dealing with.  
  
As he was contemplating ways to tell Ennoshita that he was sorry for playing a role in siccing his friend onto him, Futakuchi’s phone buzzed in his pocket to indicate he had received a message. He yanked it out with almost lightning-speed reflexes.  
  
“ _Urgh_ , just my sister, telling me to tell our mother she won’t be home for dinner. Why couldn’t she tell her herself? Way to get my hopes up.”  
  
“Mine too,” Aone muttered under his breath.  
  
—  
  
**3:57PM:** From: Ennoshita Chikara — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _I actually have insomnia, so I try not to drink coffee._ ]  
  
  
**3:59PM: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Ennoshita Chikara  
[ _ohh I see_ ]  
  
  
**4:00PM: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Aone Takanobu  
[ _Aoneeeee he didn’t recognise my attempt to ask him out for coffee!!_ (╥﹏╥ ) ]  
  
—  
  
“How’s the blossoming romantic with Captain Sass?” asked Kinoshita when they were walking home after volleyball practice. Beside him, Narita snorted with laughter, but Ennoshita couldn’t bring himself to do the same.  
  
“I don’t think he’s interested,” he said with a shrug. Perhaps his disappointment showed through more than he thought because he expected some gentle teasing from his friends, but nothing came, and their snickering died down right away. They were staring at him, waiting for him to explain. “I mean, we text, but he doesn’t say much more than a few words at a time, and it’s rarely ever anything exciting.”  
  
“Maybe he’s just a man of few words,” said Narita. Now, it was Kinoshita’s turn to snort with laughter.  
  
“Who, _Captain Sass?”_  
  
“Fair point…”  
  
“I don’t know why, either,” said Ennoshita, “but I also can’t help texting back. I don’t know if it’s because I keep hoping for something more exciting, or if it’s because…” He trailed off uncertainly and looked at his friends, who were eyeing him expectantly. “Or if it’s because I just like talking with him, even if the conversation is boring. I’m probably just bothering him, though.” He shrugged.  
  
“Does he take ages to reply?” asked Narita.  
  
“Not usually,” said Ennoshita slowly.  
  
“And he _always_ replies?”  
  
“Almost always.”  
  
“And he starts conversations?”  
  
“Sometimes…”  
  
“Has he ever hinted that he wants you to stop contacting him?” asked Kinoshita.  
  
Ennoshita thought for a moment, before shaking his head. “I don’t think so.”  
  
They nodded almost knowingly  
  
“He’s probably just bad at communicating with text,” said Kinoshita. “Don’t give up just yet.”  
  
“Maybe,” said Ennoshita, not quite convinced.  
  
(But honestly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to give up, anyway.)  
  
—  
  
Aone and Futakuchi were in their school library again, attempting to study, but mostly talking quietly about Futakuchi’s failing attempts to woo Ennoshita. Aone was very patient and by no means a violent person, but over the past couple of days, he had come very close to smacking Futakuchi firmly over the head with his lightest notebook.  
  
“Asking him what coffee he likes isn’t asking for a date,” said Aone slowly.  
  
“It’s like I don’t know how to anymore,” came Futakuchi’s muffled voice from between the pages of his physics textbook.  
  
Aone exhaled. It was time to try something else. He reached over and gently tugged Futakuchi’s book from underneath his face, and his friend raised his head and squinted at him like he had just offended him. Aone ignored the look and closed the textbook and pushed it to the side.  
  
“It isn’t like you to put up such a front, Futakuchi,” he said seriously. “Even in front of someone you like. Why are you trying so hard?”  
  
Futakuchi’s lips twisted like he was struggling to put his words together. They sat in silence for a while as he collected his thoughts. Aone twirled his pen between his fingers as he waited.  
  
“To be honest,” Futakuchi finally said quietly, “ever since they made me captain of the volleyball team, I’ve been… a lot more aware of how I act.”  
  
Aone stopped twirling his pen and waited patiently for him to continue. Futakuchi shrugged uncomfortably.  
  
“I was happy being the snarky kouhai and having our senpai tell me what to do… but now that they’re gone and I’m in the leadership role, I have to keep looking at things from a different angle. I mean, I still don’t understand _why_ they made me captain, you know? I would’ve thought they’d pick you, you’re way calmer about everything than I am.”  
  
“I’m too quiet,” said Aone. Futakuchi shrugged again.  
  
“For a while, I thought I could just continue to do things as I always did, but I actually… couldn’t. I have kouhai looking to me to direct them now, and it’s so _weird_ , I don’t know what to do with myself sometimes. And at the Spring High, I panicked a little.” Futakuchi leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “If I had calmed down more, I might have been able to work better with Koganegawa, or I might have been able to give more encouragement to Sakunami. We might have been able to give Seijou more of a fight.” He sighed. “If we’re going to defend the name of Datekou’s Iron Wall, I can’t lose my cool, you know? I have to stay calm and composed. I need to be a good captain.”  
  
Aone was staring at him in surprise. For the first time in ages, he realised Futakuchi looked… tired. He rarely ever looked tired; Aone (and the third years) used to think it was because he sucked the energy from people around him with his snarkiness, so it was quite something else to hear all these thoughts from him. Futakuchi had hidden them well, until now.  
  
“I mean, with Ennoshita,” said Futakuchi, “I just forget everything and I get all excited again. I can’t keep doing that though, so I have to keep reminding myself to stay calm.”  
  
Aone frowned, confused. “But you don’t stay calm around me, either.”  
  
Futakuchi looked at him impatiently. “I’ve known you for ages and you’re my best friend. Of course it’s different with you.”  
  
“Ah.”  
  
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that I can cut loose around you, but you and Ennoshita are two totally different entities, you know?”  
  
“Of course,” said Aone.  
  
“And it’s just so much _harder_ staying cool around him. It takes so much effort.”  
  
“So… the reason you’ve been sending boring texts to him… is because you think it sounds cooler?”  
  
“Well, when you put it _that_ way…” Futakuchi cringed. “Wow, that sounds awful.”  
  
“So stop, then,” said Aone. “Stop putting up a front. Be honest with him.”  
  
“How?”  
  
Aone shrugged. “You said you both got along at the Spring High, so why not try that? Just because you’re a captain, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself.”  
  
Futakuchi stared at him uncertainly.  
  
“Look…” Aone laid his pen down and looked at him as though he was preparing to explain to him why one plus one equalled two. “He replies back to your texts, and he tries to start conversation, right? So he doesn’t think you’re completely hopeless.”  
  
Futakuchi brightened. “You think so?”  
  
“Probably.”  
  
Futakuchi looked deflated again.  
  
“If he wasn’t interested in you, he would probably ignore you,” said Aone in a pacifying sort of voice.  
  
“You… think he likes me?”  
  
Aone shrugged again.  
  
“So… all this time, he’s been trying to talk to me, but I’ve been blowing him off?” Aone just grunted. There was a long moment of silence as Futakuchi thought and thought… before he let out a groan of despair. “I _totally_ screwed up, didn’t I? He totally doesn’t like me anymore!”  
  
Aone buried his head in his hands.  
  
—  
  
“Er, senpai?”  
  
Kinoshita and Narita turned to look at Hinata, who had jogged up to them during the lunch break, holding his phone out.  
  
“Aone says that he wants to meet with you both after school today or tomorrow,” said Hinata. “He says it’s a bit of an emergency.”  
  
“Did he say what it was about?” asked Narita.  
  
“Something about a mutual friend,” said Hinata. “Is it Futakuchi-san and Ennoshita-san?”  
  
“It’s a, er… long story,” said Kinoshita. “Thanks Hinata. Tell him we’ll meet him after school today, at about… quarter-to-four? Outside the library.”  
  
“Got it!” Hinata texted Aone dutifully.  
  
The second years met up a few hours later.  
  
“Erm, hello,” said Narita as the three stared at each other somewhat awkwardly. Aone nodded politely at them.  
  
“I’m Aone Takanobu,” he said. “Futakuchi’s friend.”  
  
“We know. I’m Narita Kazuhito.”  
  
“Kinoshita Hisashi. We understand there’s an… emergency?”  
  
Aone nodded again, gravely now. “I can’t take it anymore,” he said. “I thought I knew how Futakuchi’s mind works, but throwing Ennoshita-san into the fray has changed a lot.”  
  
“Wow, that bad, huh?” Narita remarked.  
  
“Mm.”  
  
“Is he actually still interested in Ennoshita?” said Kinoshita with a frown. “Because Ennoshita seems to think that Futakuchi isn’t interested in him, and if he’s just going to mess around with our friend–”  
  
Aone’s frown deepened and he shook his head. “It isn’t like that at all,” he said. “He likes him a lot.”  
  
“Funny way of showing it…”  
  
“I understand what you mean,” said Aone. “Futakuchi is just…” There was a long pause. “Confused. Immature. A bit dense. But he tries very hard. He’s a good person, else I might not be friends with him. I think they just need to meet and talk properly.”  
  
“Honestly? I think Ennoshita could use some ‘immature’ in his life,” said Narita with a grin. “He gets enough from this guy–” He elbowed Kinoshita in the ribs, and his friend gave a yelp of surprise. “–and from our other friends and kouhai, but it’s not the same you know?”  
  
“What do you suggest we do?” asked Aone.  
  
Kinoshita and Narita looked at each other.  
  
“There is no room for subtlety anymore,” said Kinoshita, and Aone nodded in agreement. “We’ll send them off on a date together, and let nature take its course. It’ll be very simple; here’s what we’ll do…”  
  
—  
  
**8:22PM: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Aone Takanobu  
[ _don’t wanna go arcade_ ]  
  
  
**8:23PM: From:** Aone Takanobu — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _You need to get your mind off things for a bit_. ]  
  
  
**8:25PM: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Aone Takanobu  
[ _nooooo got homework & no $$$_ ]  
  
  
**8:26 PM: From:** Aone Takanobu — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _I’ll treat you to a few games._ ]  
  
  
**8:27PM: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Aone Takanobu  
[ _…wait why are you being so nice_ ]  
  
  
**8:28PM: From:** Aone Takanobu — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _If I was moping around as much as you have been, you would be nice to me, too._ ]  
  
  
**8:29PM: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Aone Takanobu  
[ _when did you get so sassy_ ]  
  
  
**8:29PM: From:** Aone Takanobu — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _I learn from the best._ ]  
  
  
**8:30PM: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To** : Aone Takanobu  
[ _aww I knew we’re friends for a reason_ (≧▽≦) ]  
  
—  
  
The weekend following saw Ennoshita and Futakuchi staring at each other impassively while their friends greeted each other like nothing was wrong. Kinoshita and Narita waved to Aone, who nodded and waved back. Even Hinata was there after being invited to hang out by Aone (without Futakuchi’s knowledge), looking a little lost and confused, but still greeting everyone cheerfully and keeping a bit of a distance from Futakuchi, whom he was probably a little intimidated by.  
  
“Well, we never expected to see you guys here, Aone-san and Futakuchi-san! What a fine coincidence,” said Kinoshita loudly, earning himself a jab to the ribs from Narita, who muttered something about ‘ _lessons from the drama club_ ’. Ennoshita shot them both an almost dangerous look (for his standards, anyway), which they chose to ignore.  
  
“We should hang out together,” said Narita, “but since there’s so many of us, it’ll be hard to keep track of everyone, so, uh… Hinata, why don’t you and Aone go ahead and, uh, check out… games or something?”  
  
To no one’s surprise, Hinata blinked at him and said, “Senpai, did you want to have lunch together?”  
  
But to their immense relief, Aone pointed down the road whilst looking at Hinata. “There’s a new toy store that opened last week,” he said. “Your sister might like the stuffed animals there.”  
  
“Well, it _is_ her birthday soon…”  
  
“Great!” said Narita. “You guys go on, we’ll meet… later. Somewhere. Maybe.”  
  
“I’ll go with them!” said Futakuchi hastily, but Aone gave him such a _stare_ rarely used on his friend (the type that often froze opponent volleyball players to the spot), that Futakuchi fell back with the look of a betrayed puppy.  
  
“Last time you bought a toy for your cousin, you made her cry,” said Aone sternly. And that was that.  
  
“Er,” said Kinoshita, “h-have fun, I guess?”  
  
Hinata shrugged and nodded. “All right. See you later!” Beside him, Aone nodded and flashed a thumbs up at Kinoshita and Narita, and he and Hinata made their way down the road. Faintly, they heard Hinata saying, “That was unusual of you, is everything okay?” and Aone replying, “It’s for his own good”. Futakuchi watched him go with a slightly panicked expression on his face.  
  
“Where do you guys want to go eat?” Ennoshita asked his friends.  
  
“Oh, you’re not coming with us,” said Kinoshita quickly. “Narita and I are going to… uh…”  
  
“–To buy _your_ birthday present,” Narita chimed in, and Kinoshita nodded vigorously. “So, obviously, you’ll ruin the surprise if you come with us.”  
  
“My birthday’s not until–”  
  
“BYEEE!”  
  
They practically sprinted away. Ennoshita watched them go exasperatedly.  
  
“Subtle,” he muttered before turning to Futakuchi, who cleared his throat.  
  
“Well, l-let’s lunching,” said Futakuchi. “I mean, lunch. Let have– let _us_ have– oh, for god’s sake.”  
  
Ennoshita smiled slightly. “Yeah, let’s go,” he said. “There’s a ramen place not far from here, if you’re okay with that?”  
  
“Good. Great. Fine.”  
  
They began making their way to the restaurant without another word.  
  
It was so awkward and uncomfortable between the two, so different from the first time they spoke at the Spring High. They walked so stiffly that any attempts at making conversation seemed to die out before they could even begin to form as ideas. At this rate, lunch had the potential to be a quiet disaster.  
  
They made it two blocks from the restaurant, when Futakuchi’s phone chimed. He checked it.  
  
  
**11:57am: From:** Aone Takanobu — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _I know you're panicking right now, so stop._ ]  
  
  
He stopped walking. His phone chimed again.  
  
  
**11:57am: From:** Aone Takanobu — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _You can do it._ ]  
  
  
Futakuchi shoved his phone back in his pocket.  
  
“Um,” he said, and Ennoshita turned to look at him. “I… uh…”  
  
“Are you okay?” asked Ennoshita, looking at him in such concern that Futakuchi felt a swooping sensation in the pit of his stomach, and it was everything he could do to keep from curling up into a ball of embarrassment and nerves in the middle of the footpath. _You can do it._  
  
“I want to apologise for acting all weird,” he said in one breath. “With the texting, I mean.”  
  
“Oh.” Ennoshita looked surprised. “Okay.”  
  
“It’s a long story,” Futakuchi continued, “but I’ve realised that I need to… relax a bit, so… I’ll try not to sound like such a dickhead anymore.”  
  
“You didn’t sound… I mean, it’s fine,” said Ennoshita.  
  
“No, no it’s not,” said Futakuchi. “It’s just… being made captain of a team made me realised a lot of things about myself, and I’m still trying to find some sort of weird balance, so… that might take some time.”  
  
“That’s not a bad thing,” said Ennoshita. Futakuchi nodded.  
  
“I’ll try not to make you wait too long, though,” he said.  
  
“Honestly? I thought you just weren’t interested in talking anymore.”  
  
“No!” said Futakuchi loudly and quickly, which made Ennoshita jump. “No, that’s not it at all! I really liked talking with you! You’re really interesting–” Ennoshita smiled, which felt to Futakuchi like an odd celebratory sucker-punch of sorts, “–and… and… well.” He swallowed hard before blurting out, “The truth is, I like you. I mean… I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but I think you’re great, so I’d like to get to know you a bit better. You know, i-if you’re still okay with that.”  
  
There was silence between the two as Ennoshita stared at him, stunned, and Futakuchi held his breath against his better judgement.  
  
And then Ennoshita nodded. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “I’m definitely okay with that.”  
  
Futakuchi let out his breath loudly in relief. “Oh, thank god,” he said. “I thought I’d completely blown it.”  
  
“It takes a lot more than that,” said Ennoshita, smiling.  
  
“Do you want to start this all over?” asked Futakuchi. “Pretend these boring-ass texts from me never existed?”  
  
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Ennoshita slowly. “I could use these as decent blackmail material…” Futakuchi’s jaw dropped open. Ennoshita grinned and pulled out his phone. “Let’s see… ' _hey what sort of coffee do you like, mine’s a mocha haha’_ –”  
  
“Oh my _god_ – that was me trying to ask you out!”  
  
“You stuck ‘haha’ at the end of every second text you sent me, do you always do that?”  
  
“I was trying to sound casual!”  
  
“You can do so much better.”  
  
“I… well. Yeah, I definitely could.” A slow grin spread across Futakuchi’s face. “Don’t worry, I’ll astound you with my wit from now on, so I hope you’re ready.”  
  
“I’ve been waiting for it,” said Ennoshita. And it was true.  
  
The tension between the two had gone, and it was a great relief. They smiled (or in Futakuchi’s case, smirked) at each other, and talked easily all the way through lunch about anything that came to mind: Futakuchi admitted that his hyperactive first-year setter was driving him up the wall, but he just tried so _hard_ , so how could he discourage him?; Ennoshita mentioned the possibility of him becoming Karasuno’s captain next year, which was overwhelming; Futakuchi suggested they swap notes if—or when—he was ever appointed; Ennoshita purposely brought up the Datekou Iron Wall, just to see Futakuchi’s eyes spark with pride again, because he was pretty sure he’d never get over that.  
  
The day ended far too quickly, but the best bit was Futakuchi making a big show of asking Ennoshita for his number.  
  
“I didn’t get it the first time, so let me do it over!” he said happily, and Ennoshita pulled out his phone, grinning, and they pretended to exchange contact details.  
  
They didn’t meet up again with any of their other friends for the rest of the day, but they had a feeling it wasn’t a big issue. Indeed, it barely even crossed their minds, not at all helped by the fact that, when they were at the train station and watching Futakuchi’s train pull into the platform, Futakuchi bent his head down and gave Ennoshita a quick kiss on the cheek, before darting onto the train and yelling “ _I’ll text youuu!”_ as the train doors closed. Other people on the platform stared at Ennoshita and giggled amongst themselves, but he didn’t even notice as he stood there, rubbing his cheek gently, unable to fight back a smile.  
  
Back home later that afternoon, Ennoshita was in the middle of composing a text to Kinoshita and Narita that mostly comprised of thanks but was also partially threats to ask Daichi-san to make them run more laps at volleyball practice, when he received a message from Futakuchi.  
  
  
**4:12PM: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Ennoshita Chikara  
[ _Thanks for not giving up on me_ ^^ ]  
  
  
Ennoshita felt a warmth in his chest as he grinned into his pillow.  
  
———  
  
**5:08pm: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Aone Takanobu  
[ _omg he likes me!!!!!!_ °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° ]  
  
  
**5:11pm: From:** Aone Takanobu — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _I told you._ ]  
  
  
**5:12pm: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Aone Takanobu  
[ _we’re gonna see a movie this weekend!!!_ (≧▽≦) ]  
  
  
**5:13pm: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Aone Takanobu  
[ _but still can’t believe you tricked me into going out today!!!_ (T_T) ]  
  
  
**5:13pm: From:** Aone Takanobu — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _It was worth it._ ]  
  
  
**5:14pm: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Aone Takanobu  
[ _ok ok I’ll buy you a burger as thanks!!!_ ]  
  
  
**5:15pm: From:** Aone Takanobu — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _After volleyball practice._ ]  
  
  
**5:16pm: From:** Futakuchi Kenji — **To:** Aone Takanobu  
[ _ok deal!!!_ ]  
  
  
**5:17pm: From:** Aone Takanobu — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _See you tomorrow._ ]  
  
  
**5:18pm: From:** Aone Takanobu — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _And Futakuchi?_ ]  
  
  
**5:18pm: From:** Aone Takanobu — **To:** Futakuchi Kenji  
[ _You are a good captain._ ]  
  
———


End file.
